Wilder with career day as Panthers take control of Little East

            NEW HAMPTON, N.H. – Sophomore Kaitlyn Wilder (Framingham, Mass.) scored a career-high 10 points on four goals and six assists Saturday afternoon to lead Plymouth State University to a 22-15 victory over Western Connecticut State University in a key Little East Conference women's lacrosse game at the New Hampton School field.

            The Panthers captured their sixth straight victory to improve to 10-3 overall and 4-0 in the Little East, while Western Connecticut suffered its first conference loss of the year and fell to 8-6 overall and 3-1 in LEC games. PSU remains the only unbeaten team in LEC play with a week to go in the regular season.

            Wilder got strong support from teammates as PSU tallied its most goals in a game this season. Senior Amy MacDonald (Hull, Mass.) scored a game-high six goals to go along with two assists, while classmate Shannon Connerty (Nashua, N.H.), sophomore Caroline Vonachen (Framingham, Mass.) and freshman Megan Tingley (Natick, Mass.) notched three goals apiece.  Tingley added two assists and Connerty one helper.

            Senior Molly Gleason (Haverhill, Mass.) also had a big day for PSU, collecting a goal and four assists along with a season-best 12 draw controls. Gleason's five points on offense pushed her over the 100-point mark for her career, becoming the 26th player in program history to reach the milestone.

            Freshman Lindsey Eanniello (Danbury) led the visitors with five goals and an assist, while senior Kelsey Heaton (New Milford, Conn.) tallied four goals and freshman Olivia Kosilla (Ellington, Conn.) added three goals, an assist and a team-high seven draw controls.  Sophomore Destinee Carey (New Milford, Conn.) collected three assists.

            The teams alternated scoring the first 10 minutes of the game and the game was tied 4-4 in the early going. PSU scored five of the next six goals by five different players to pull ahead 9-5 with five minutes remaining in the half.  Eanniello potted two for Western and Vonachen closed out the first-half scoring with PSU leading 10-7.

            The Panthers scored the first three goals of the second half, including two by Tingley, to surge ahead by six goals.  Western did not give up, scoring four of the next five goals off four different sticks, closing the game to 14-11 with 21 minutes to play.

            Next it was Plymouth State's turn to score four of the next five goals to push the margin back up to 18-12 with 18 minutes to play. Western again came back to slice the margin to 19-15 with 11 minutes remaining, but PSU scored the final three goals of the game to win by seven.

            Both teams are back in action with conference games on Tuesday, as PSU hosts the University of Southern Maine at the New Hampton School for Senior Night at 6:30 p.n., while Western plays at rival Eastern Connecticut State University at 4:30 p.m.

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